Why I’m excited for Gottacon 2015

It’s been years since I attended my first LAN party. I was only 12 at the time and had to convince my dad that meeting up with strangers that I’d met online to play video games was a perfectly legitimate thing to do. I’m happy I did end up convincing him to let me go and I ended up having a blast playing Battlefield 1942 with these kind strangers.

Fast forward 14 years and I’m now preparing for my second LAN party. Sure, I’ve played computer games all day with a friend who brought his laptop over, but I’ve never been part of anything on this scale before. I will be attending GottaCon 2015 next weekend. In order to get ready for the fun I ordered a great headset, pre-purchased my full weekend pass, and registered for the Dota 2 Starter Tournament. I’ve got plenty of reasons to be excited for this 3 day event.

GottaCon – Victoria’s gaming convention

This popular gaming convention, offering both board games and video games, is happening next weekend in Victoria, BC. From Friday, the 27th of February, until Sunday night, the 1st of March, the Victoria Conference Centre will be a hotspot for cosplayers, LAN enthusiasts, and gamers in general.

I’ve pre-purchased my Bring Your Own Computer LAN pass and was even lucky to get an upgrade to the VIP area through a random draw that one of my team-mates won. The team I’m with is called Tower Divers and we will compete in one of the many competitive events.

Dota 2 Starter Tournament at GottaCon 2015

We’ll be competing in the Dota 2 Starter Tournament at this year’s GottaCon. In order to get ready for this event, I’ve been playing a lot of core roles (heroes that need farm in order to be effective) lately and I’m really getting in the groove for this event. I have no idea how good the competition is actually going to be, but it should be a fun experience nonetheless. There are even some cool prizes up for grabs!

The matches are spread out over the three days, which should keep us all thoroughly entertained. In between the Dota 2 matches, I’m hoping to finally have some time to pick up one of my all-time favourite games, Team Fortress 2, or to get lost in the Heroes of the Storm beta.

GottaCon 2014 was a great success

I attended last year’s GottaCon on the Saturday as a spectator which was also a great experience. One of the highlights was a presentation focused on building a personal gaming PC, organized in cooperation with NCIX. The audience was able to ask questions and the presenters also gave away a bunch of goodies. Lady Luck was on my side that day and I got to go home with a steel mouse pad, which has quickly become one of my favourite gaming accessories, and an NVIDIA duffel bag.

GottaCon 2015 will probably be even more fun for me compared to last year’s event since I’m actually bringing my own computer and will be able to participate in the action. Three days of gaming is highly likely to result in me speaking in constant Dota lingo after Sunday night. “We need to gank and get more wards!”

Ways to follow GottaCon 2015

After GottaCon, I’ll write a more extensive piece about my time at one of BC’s biggest gaming events so expect a recap that will be similar to the article I wrote after attending TI4 in Seattle. If you are attending GottacCon 2015 yourself, please swing by the VIP LAN area and look for me in the Tower Divers team, or just send me a tweet and I’ll be happy to meet up!

I can’t wait to attend this big gaming event, but for now, I need to get back to practising my Dota 2 skills if we actually want to get anywhere in the Starter Tournament! Stay tuned for the update!

Erik's been playing games on both consoles and PCs from a very young age. His first console experience began with a Nintendo 8 Bit, playing Duckhunt with the Zapper and trying to beat Super Mario Bros 3.

His love for video games soon evolved and he started spending more of his time behind a mouse and keyboard. While the adults around him thought that he was just going through a phase and tried to encourage him to spend more time outside, Erik's affection for gaming only grew.

Now in his mid 20s, he still gets excited over a new original game or gaming concept and is like a kid on Christmas morning, eagerly anticipating a new release. Erik loves racing, real-time strategy, building, and survival games and started Game Crusaders to share his passion with the world.